U.S. Coast Guard fires on Iranian fishing boat

(CNN) -- The U.S. Coast Guard fired at an Iranian fishing dhow in the Persian Gulf after the Iranian boat pointed a machine gun at the American crew, the Navy said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred earlier in the day when a team from the Coast Guard patrol vessel Monomoy was dispatched in a smaller boat "to query the Iranian dhow" in international waters, the Navy said in a statement.

"The dhow's crew trained and prepared to fire a .50 caliber machine gun on their small boat as it approached as part of a routine maritime security operation," the Navy statement said.